Stocks Steady as Bond Yields Stabilize; Yen Gains: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks fluctuated as bond yields retreated from multi-year highs. The yen surged 1.7% against the dollar as traders lifted bets on Japanese interest-rate hikes, while remaining wary of intervention risk.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were little changed. Technology shares remained in focus, with chipmaker Broadcom Inc. falling in premarket trading after underwhelming results. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. slipped after reporting sales that fell short of high expectations.

Thursday’s nervy moves come after a cautious start to September, when global bond yields soared as renewed fighting in Iran drove oil higher, fueling inflation concerns and bets on a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike this month. With earnings season largely over, attention is shifting to Friday’s jobs report for clues on the US economy and the policy outlook.

“There’s no structural trend in the direction of travel and the market typically follows short-term moves on oil,” said Nadege Dufosse, head of multi-asset at Candriam. “It’s a market which is complicated to navigate.”

Attention is on the yen, which is on track for its best day since Tokyo and Washington entered the market to prop up the currency just over a month ago. Investors have turned their focus on factors supporting the currency, after weeks of questioning the long-term effectiveness of intervention to support it. Speculation that the nation’s biggest pension fund may boost its allocation to Japanese bonds also supported gains.

The yen briefly pared its advance after Bloomberg News reported that BOJ officials are leaning toward raising the benchmark rate by a quarter point this month, cooling bets on a bigger hike.

“Any sustainable turn lower in USD/JPY now probably requires a much more hawkish Bank of Japan and some new initiatives to encourage domestic investment in Japan,” said Chris Turner, head of foreign exchange strategy at ING Bank.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 benchmark rose about 0.3, snapping three days of declines. Soitec surged 17% after the French chip-material company lifted revenue guidance. Publicis Groupe SA rose after winning Pepsico Inc.’s $1.7 billion global media account.

Elsewhere, Brent crude resumed an advance, rising 1.1% to $96.63 a barrel as President Donald Trump’s prediction of a brief operation against Iran was countered by Tehran’s claims of fresh retaliation.

Bonds clawed back some of the past week’s losses as yields near multi-decade highs proved hard for some investors to resist despite elevated energy prices. The 10-year US Treasury yield dipping one basis point. European bonds also edged higher, with Germany’s 10-year yield down two basis points to 3.35%.

Meanwhile, natural gas futures in Europe gained for a fourth day to head for the highest close since early 2023. US retail diesel prices hit the highest since mid-2022, topping a peak seen during the early stages of the Iran war to approach a record. The national average pump price climbed to $5.783 a gallon on Wednesday.

Base metals prices also advanced, with copper in London trading less than $300 a ton below the record set in January. Gold rose 1% to about $4,427 an ounce.

Corporate Highlights:

Elliott Investment Management has built a sizeable stake in Deutsche Telekom AG and indicated the German telecommunications giant should ditch a potential merger with its American arm T-Mobile US Inc., people familiar with the matter said. China is about a decade and a half behind in developing cutting-edge chipmaking tools, according to a top executive at Germany’s Zeiss Group, a key supplier in the global semiconductor industry. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. declined in late trading after the company reported increasing sales that didn’t meet high expectations from investors. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 7:35 a.m. New York time Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3% The MSCI World Index rose 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1611 The British pound was little changed at $1.3493 The Japanese yen rose 1.7% to 156.08 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.7% to $77,899.48 Ether rose 0.5% to $2,404.62 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.77% Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.35% Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 5.17% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $92.44 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.2% to $4,435.24 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Julien Ponthus, Yasufumi Saito and Anand Krishnamoorthy.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.